photo by Jose L. Argueta/ISIphotos.com
By FRANCO PANIZO
Nearly two and a half years after the accident that almost claimed his life, Charlie Davies made his official return for Sochaux.
Having last played in a Ligue 1 game on Oct. 3, 2009, Davies completed his return to Sochaux by coming off the bench in its 1-0 defeat to Stade Rennes. Davies entered the game in the 78th minute and had an opportunity to pull his relegation-threatened club level, but his effort was off the mark. While coming in a loss, Davies' return is likely to serve as a confidence booster as he aims to solidify his place in the club's rotation.
Two Americans who did help their club earn a result were Landon Donovan and Tim Howard. The U.S. attacker delivered his latest assist in Everton's 2-0 upset win over Chelsea when he played a perfect pass into the path of Denis Stracqualursi for the insurance goal, bringing his assist total to six during his loan spell. Howard made four saves against Chelsea's star-studded offense en route to recording his sixth cleansheet of the season.
Howard and Donovan were not the only American duo to contribute to their club's win this weekend. Maurice Edu and Carlos Bocanegra each went the distance and had an assist in Rangers' 4-1 triumph against Dunfermline Athletic. The win kept Rangers four points behind first-place Celtic.
Here is how the Americans Abroad performed this weekend:
ENGLAND
Premiership
- Tim Howard started, played 90 minutes and made 4 saves in Everton's 2-0 win vs. Chelsea on Saturday.
- Landon Donovan started, played 90 minutes and had an ASSIST for Everton.
- Marcus Hahnemann did not dress for Everton.
- Clint Dempsey started, played 90 minutes and took a shot that resulted in an own goal in Fulham's 2-1 win vs. Stoke City on Saturday.
- Brad Friedel started, played 90 minutes and made 3 saves in Tottenham Hotspur's 5-0 win vs. Newcastle United on Saturday.
- Brad Guzan dressed but did not play in Aston Villa's 1-0 loss vs. Manchester City on Sunday.
- Eric Lichaj did not dress for Aston Villa.
- Stuart Holden did not dress in Bolton Wanderers' 2-1 loss vs. Wigan Athletic on Saturday. He is recovering from a knee injury.
- Tim Ream did not dress for Bolton Wanderers.
- Zak Whitbread did not dress in Norwich City's 3-2 win vs. Swansea City on Saturday. He is recovering from a hamstring injury.
- Adam Henley came off the bench and played 40 minutes in Blackburn Rovers' 3-2 win vs. Queens Park Rangers on Saturday.
Championship
- Jonathan Spector and Birmingham City's match vs. Barnsley on Saturday was postponed because of a frozen field.
- Conor Doyle came off the bench and played 1 minute in Derby County's 0-0 draw vs. Millwall on Saturday.
- Robbie Findley came off the bench and played 15 minutes in Nottingham Forest's 1-1 draw vs. Watford on Saturday.
- Daniel Potts and West Ham United's match vs. Peterborough United was postponed because of a frozen field.
- George John and West Ham United's match vs. Peterborough United was postponed because of a frozen field.
- Robbie Rogers did not dress in Leeds United's 2-1 loss vs. Brighton on Saturday.
League One
- Frank Simek and Carlisle United's match vs. Stevenage on Saturday was postponed because of a frozen field.
- Anton Peterlin and Walsall's match vs. Colchester United on Saturday was postponed because of a frozen field.
- Mike Grella and Brentford's match vs. Oldham Athletic on Saturday was postponed because of a frozen field.
SCOTLAND
- Maurice Edu started, played 90 minutes and had an ASSIST in Rangers' 4-1 win vs. Dunfermline Athletic on Saturday.
- Carlos Bocanegra started, played 90 minutes and had an ASSIST for Rangers.
https://dailymotion.com/video/xoji7h_dun-ran-1-2-www-rojadirecta-es_sport
- Alejandro Bedoya did not dress for Rangers. He is recovering from an ankle injury.
- Dominic Cervi did not dress in Celtic's 1-0 win vs. Inverness Caledonian Thistle on Saturday.
ITALY
- Michael Bradley and Chievo Verona play Napoli on Monday.
GERMANY
Bundesliga
- Steve Cherundolo started and played 90 minutes Hannover 96's 1-1 draw vs. Mainz 05 on Saturday.
- Jermaine Jones did not dress in Schalke 04's 3-0 loss vs. Borussia Moenchengladbach on Saturday. He is currently serving an eight-week suspension.
- Timmy Chandler started and played 90 minutes in FC Nurnberg's 0-0 draw vs. FC Augsburg on Friday.
- Fabian Johnson started and played 90 minutes in TSG 1899 Hoffenheim's 1-1 draw vs. Werder Bremen on Saturday.
- Danny Williams started and played 90 minutes for TSG 1899 Hoffenheim.
- Joe Gyau dressed but did not play for TSG 1899 Hoffenheim.
- Terrence Boyd did not dress in Borussia Dortmund's 1-0 win vs. Bayer Leverkusen on Saturday.
- Alfredo Morales started, played 45 minutes and received a yellow card in Hertha Berlin's 5-0 loss vs. VfB Stuttgart on Saturday.
- David Yelldell did not dress in Bayer Leverkusen's 1-0 loss vs. Borussia Dortmund on Saturday.
2. BUNDESLIGA
- Ricardo Clark and Eintracht Frankfurt play Fortuna Dusseldorf on Monday.
- Luis Robles did not dress in Karlsruher SC's 0-0 draw vs. Eintracht Braunschweig on Saturday.
- Bobby Wood and TSV 1860 Munich's match vs. FC Erzgebirge Aue on Friday was postponed because of a frozen field.
- Matt Taylor dressed but did not play in SC Paderborn 07's 5-1 loss vs. SpVgg Greuther Furth on Sunday.
FRANCE
- Quentin Westberg and Evian Thonon Gaillard's match vs. Marseille on Saturday was postponed because of freezing temperatures.
- Charlie Davies came off the bench and played 12 minutes in Sochaux's 1-0 loss vs. Stade Rennes on Saturday.
NETHERLANDS
- Jozy Altidore came off the bench and played 15 minutes in AZ Alkmaar's 2-0 win vs. Excelsior on Saturday.
PORTUGAL
- Oguchi Onyewu started, played 90 minutes and received a yellow card in Sporting CP's 2-0 loss vs. Maritimo on Saturday.
BELGIUM
- Sacha Kljestan started and played 90 minutes RSC Anderlecht's 2-1 win vs. Standard Liege on Sunday.
- Mikkel Diskerud dressed but did not play in KAA Gent's 3-1 loss vs. Club Brugge on Sunday.
MEXICO
- Jose Torres started, played 90 minutes and received a yellow card in Pachuca's 2-0 win vs. Estudiantes Tecos U.A. de G. on Saturday.
- Herculez Gomez dressed but did not play in Santos Laguna's 3-1 loss vs. Morelia on Friday.
- Sonny Guadarrama did not dress Atlante's 2-0 loss vs. Toluca on Saturday.
- Jonathan Bornstein dressed but did not play in Tigres UANL's 2-0 win vs. San Luis on Saturday.
- DaMarcus Beasley came off the bench, played 25 minutes and helped set up a goal in Puebla's 2-0 win vs. Pumas UNAM on Sunday.
- Adrian Ruelas did not dress in Jaguares de Chiapas' 3-0 win vs. Queretaro on Saturday.
- Michael Orozco Fiscal started and played 90 minutes in San Luis' 2-0 loss vs. Tigres UANL on Saturday.
- Edgar Castillo started and played 90 minutes in Club Tijuana's 0-0 draw vs. Cruz Azul on Sunday.
- Joe Corona started and played 59 minutes for Club Tijuana.
- Greg Garza dressed but did not play for Club Tijuana.
——-
What do you think of these performances? Think Davies will get more playing time as the season goes forward? How badly do you think Everton wants to keep Donovan? Do you see Edu, Bocanegra and Rangers catching Celtic?
Share your thoughts below.
“1. Shots that are on target (i.e. goal bound) and touch a defender
**OR**
2. (Shots that) rebound from the goalframe and bounce off a defender or goalkeeper.”
Lol, this is going to turn into a 2nd Amendment debate, I can tell. Speaking of, I always have wanted a pair of bear arms.
“OR” is the key word there. They are discussing two distinct possiblities where shots last touched by a defending player are not own goals. I did not write out the full quote because only the 2nd option was relevent.
The two possibilities where a defender touches the ball but it is not an own goal are:
1. Shots that are on target (i.e. goal bound) and touch a defender
**OR**
2. (Shots that) rebound from the goalframe and bounce off a defender or goalkeeper.
Dempsey’s falls into category 2, as did Richards; a shot that rebounded off the goalframe, in this case the crossbar, bounced off a defender or goalkeeper, and went in.
No dives. A couple drawn legitimate fouls.
He did completely blow a great opportunity, however. A sort of lobbed ball was coming down in the box (I think after one bounce) and he tried to turn and volley it except it literally looked more like an NFL punt than a League 1 shot on goal.
Maybe we should just give Dempsey credit for Jeff Agoos’ goal against Portugal and call it a day?
It wasn’t clearly heading back away, it was going almost straight down and the spin on the ball after hitting the post was going to clearly make it bounce backwards (see, i can use “clearly” too!)
I call him “the birdman”. Totally same as the animal. Great player.
It did go on his stats… as an assist.
But you elided a key part. The full sentence is “Shots that are on target (i.e. goal-bound) and touch a defender or rebound from the goalframe and bounce off of a defender or goalkeeper are not considered as own goals.”
Now this is a pretty ambiguous rule — how can a shot be “goal-bound” and then bounce off the goalframe and touch a defender? They might just mean the ball was headed in the general direction of the goal, but that’s not usually what’s meant by an on-target shot. Or they mean a shot that would have gone in anyway, even after hitting the goalframe (and even if it hadn’t touched the defending player). The latter makes sense, but Dempsey shot was not going in anyway after hitting the frame. ISo think under either interpretation, Dempsey’s “goal” was an own goal.
If I’m right, then that would mean MLS got it wrong with the Richards goal. But I just don’t see, given the text of the rule, MLS could have gotten it right.
Anyone know how many time Charlie Davies took a dive?
They can’t play for the US, he can. So he is an American then, not just one playing abroad.